Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerful computing devices. For example, there currently exist a variety of portable personal computing devices, including wireless computing devices, such as portable wireless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and paging devices that are small, lightweight, and easily carried by users. More specifically, portable wireless telephones, such as cellular telephones and Internet Protocol (IP) telephones, can communicate voice and data packets over wireless networks. Further, many such wireless computing devices include other types of devices that are incorporated therein. For example, wireless computing devices can also include a digital still camera, a digital video camera, a digital recorder, and an audio file player. Also, such wireless computing devices include a processor that can process executable instructions, including software applications, such as a web browser application, that can be used to access the Internet. As such, these wireless computing devices can include significant computing capabilities. As use of wireless computing devices increase, bandwidth allocated to wireless communication may become congested with increased traffic. To alleviate such congestion, one possible approach is to allocate bandwidth to wireless computing devices that was previously allocated to other devices or systems.
In many countries, wireless transmission frequency bands are regulated by a government regulatory agency. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States and similar regulatory agencies in other countries regulate wireless transmission frequency bands and issue broadcast licenses in particular frequency ranges. To illustrate, a television broadcaster may be licensed for television channel transmission for a particular channel defined by a particular frequency range in a particular geographic area.
As demand for wireless data communications has increased, some regulatory agencies have recognized that current licensing schemes may lead to inefficient use of the wireless transmission frequency spectrum. As a result, regulatory agencies have enacted rules to allow unlicensed users (such as individual consumers) to use licensed frequencies in “white spaces.” A white space may generally refer to a frequency range (e.g., one or more channels) that is regulated but unused within a particular geographic area at a particular time. For example, the FCC recently made vacant/unused television (TV) white space spectrum (commonly called television white space (TVWS)) available for unlicensed use by TV band (TVBD) devices. The FCC has also set guidelines in order for TVBD devices to use the TV white spaces.